'Riding high' - Crawley Town are full of confidence as they prepare for Bradford City trip, says Lindsey

The Reds enjoyed a comfortable 3-1 win against Swindon Town on New Year’s Day and have enjoyed two wins out of the last three on the road. And they face Graham Alexander’s Bantams – a side just two points behind the Reds in the League Two table.

Lindsey said: “It's a game we're going to really embrace. We've done well away from home. We picked up some valuable points over the Christmas period, beating Colchester and Gillingham away and albeit we didn't get what we deserved probably from the MK Dons game, but we performed really well. So we're really embracing these away journeys now. And of course the players are really looking forward to this one because it's a big stadium, nice place to play. There'll be a big crowd."

He added: “We're in a good place. I feel that we're riding high with confidence, we're playing well, we're winning, and we're playing some good football and the confidence is really high and the players seem to have the bit between their teeth. We debriefed the game from Monday and the reaction from the players has been brilliant in training.”

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Bradford regularly get 16,000+ at Valley Parade but Lindsey is not talking about that with his squad. “I think that the best way of dealing with that is not to mention it and just to get on with it,” he said. “It's part of the job, it's part of what they do, what they're paid for is to play in front of big crowds in big stadiums. It's normal. The big stadium and the nice floodlights doesn't win the game for Bradford. For me it's about what we do on the actual grass and how we prepare the team to attack what's going to be a tough side in Bradford.”

Reds have a very good record against Bradford, winning five and drawing three of the last eight encounters in the league, but again, Lindsey is not taking much notice of that. “Every game's different. You could play the same team against the same team, same personnel on the same pitch, under the same conditions a hundred times and not one game will be the same as the next. Every game's different, so no, we won't be taking any notice of that. We've just got to make sure that we prepare properly, which we are doing, we get up there and we attack the game, we want to attack it.”

Lindsey knows his opposite number Alexander very well as they grew up playing youth football together. And the Reds boss knows it will bot be easy playing against his friend’s side. “I've known Graham a long, long time,” he said. “We grew up together in youth football and started our careers together and he went on to have an unbelievable career and I didn't!

"Graham is somebody I've got a lot of respect for. He is a really good manager and he's done a fantastic job there at Bradford. I think they lost their last game, but before I think they went eight unbeaten and probably six of them were wins. So he's got them really rocking and rolling there now and it's like I said, a tough place to go.

" I know Graham's teams are really hardworking and they've got certain kind of movements. They run hard from midfield. They've obviously got real attacking threat in Cooky [Andy Cook], so we know it's going to be a tough game, but like I say, we're really looking forward to it."

Reds beat Mark Hughes’ Bradford City 1-0 on the opening day of the season, but Lindsey knows they will be a different prospect on Saturday. After watching them this week, he said: “I think there's definitely a difference. Graham's got them playing, he's got the, really at it and it's going to be a tough game. They have an uncompromising way of playing. They'll put balls forward, they'll ask questions of your defense, they'll make runs from midfield. They're aggressive in the way they play, which is how Graham was as a player as well. His teams are always tough to play against. But also on the flip side of that, he's got some really good players there who can play and can pass the ball as well.”

Reds will be training at Loughborough University on the way up to Bradford tomorrow. Lindsey said: “Loughborough is probably really good one for us because it really breaks the journey up. I would say not far off halfway, so it breaks the journey up nicely and we can get the training into the lads and get the information into them and then get back on the coach and get up there in time for their dinner and then settle into the hotel for the evening.”